Flagship

Biden’s foreign policy under pressure

U.S. President Joe Biden faces growing domestic challenges — from both within and outside his party — to his efforts to support Ukraine and Israel. Biden said he would meet with House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson to reach a deal on military aid to Kyiv, which has seen losses on the ground and faces depleting weapons stockpiles. His remarks came days after the White House rejected the idea of negotiating with the senior Republican over the issue. A lawmaker from Biden’s own Democratic Party, meanwhile, urged voters in her state of Michigan, a critical battleground in November’s presidential election, to support the “uncommitted” option in a primary vote next week to protest the war in Gaza, Semafor’s David Weigel reported.

West boosts Ukraine weapons

The West stepped up efforts to boost Ukraine’s war effort. Sweden announced a new $683 million military support package, while Estonia’s prime minister called for frozen Russian assets to be seized and given to Ukraine before the U.S. election. In Washington, the Biden administration is working on sending Kyiv long-range ballistic missiles, capable of striking deeper into Russian territory, although congressional Republicans may block the deal. Supporting the war is a win-win for the U.S., analysts told The Wall Street Journal: Foreign governments have increased their spending on U.S.-built military hardware in the face of Russian aggression, leading to a surge in global arms deals and a boost for the U.S. economy.

Israel diplomatic challenges widen

Israel’s growing diplomatic disputes with the U.S., European Union, and Brazil over its war in Gaza illustrated the breadth of international pressure it faces. Washington is reportedly drafting a U.N. Security Council resolution proposing a temporary ceasefire in the conflict and opposing an Israeli ground offensive on the Gazan border town of Rafah, a shift in the U.S.’ stance given it has opposed prior Security Council ceasefire efforts. Every EU member bar Hungary, meanwhile, warned Israel against its Rafah offensive and a row between Brazil and Israel escalated, with Israel saying Brazil’s president was not welcome after he likened the Gaza war to the Holocaust.

Capital One buys Discover

Capital One said it would buy Discover, creating a giant U.S. credit card network that gives it a foothold in the increasingly important payments-processing space and which amounts to a bet on the declining use of cash. Credit card debt has been rising since the pandemic, offering lucrative interest payments for card issuers, with American financial institutions increasingly announcing attractive sign-up bonuses to lure new customers. The $35 billion deal, the world’s biggest merger this year, also allows Capital One to potentially compete with Visa and Mastercard: The two companies dominate the global payments sector, which analysts said relies on significant fixed technology costs, thereby benefiting larger firms. “Bigger is better,” a finance professor told Bloomberg.

China cuts key rate

China’s central bank cut a benchmark rate by the most on record, a move analysts said could herald further aggressive government support for the economy. The 0.25-percentage-point reduction came as new data showed foreign direct investment into China fell to a 30-year low, and soon after a major global index of Chinese stocks deleted dozens of companies from its listings over a protracted market rout. “Those who predict that China will become the world’s undisputed economic leader are wrong,” two experts wrote in Harvard Business Review. “China has lost its pole position … not just because its economy has lost momentum due to COVID, but because of significant economic and social factors.”

African migrants head to Mexico

The number of African migrants arriving in Mexico grew ninefold last year as tens of thousands attempted to reach the U.S. border. Despite the journey costing as much as $20,000 — many times annual average incomes in sub-Saharan Africa — migration through Mexico has shot up as it’s become one of the few ports of entry to the U.S. where migrants can file asylum claims. Although many are fleeing violence or extreme poverty, some are leaving Africa because of the effects of climate change, the head of the U.N. migration agency’s Mexico office told the BBC, raising the likelihood of higher migrant flows in the future.

Haiti former first lady indicted

A judge in Haiti indicted the former first lady over the 2021 murder of her husband President Jovenel Moïse. Hers was among more than 50 indictments, which also included a former prime minister and the country’s police chief who are alleged to have been complicit in a plan to depose the government. Moïse’s assassination plunged Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country, into chaos, creating a power vacuum that drug gangs have largely filled. The level of violence has become so extreme, the BBC reported, that the International Committee of the Red Cross is now forced to engage with the gangs — which are said to control as much as 80% of the capital — in order to deliver humanitarian aid.

Australia approves GM banana

Australia and New Zealand approved the world’s first genetically modified banana for sale. The QCAV-4, modified from the Cavendish variant familiar to global consumers, is an insurance policy: The Cavendish is only the dominant banana type because the Gros Michel, the previous most popular breed, was driven all but extinct by a fungal disease in the 1950s. The Cavendish, while apparently less tasty, was resistant to it. But it is a monoculture, and a single pathogen could again wipe out world yields. A new fungus to which the Cavendish is susceptible is spreading now: QCAV-4 is designed to be resistant to it, and will be kept in reserve should the new fungus become widespread.

The growth of artificial diamonds

Lab-grown diamonds are increasing in popularity. In 2018, just 3.5% of the gem trade by value was artificial — in 2023, it was 18.5%, and should exceed 20% this year, an analyst told AFP. Diamonds are pure crystalline carbon, formed by the incredible heat and pressure of the deep earth. Those conditions can be recreated in laboratories, dropping “seed” crystals into reactors. The technology has existed since the 1950s but a viable process for producing natural-quality gems is just 10 years old: India is the hub of the new industry. The lab-grown gems may not be a billion years old like their natural counterparts, but they are much cheaper, chemically identical, and guaranteed not to be from a conflict zone.

Eiffel Tower workers on strike

Workers at the Eiffel Tower went on strike Monday after two unions denounced high sums paid to the Paris authorities. The landmark is usually open 365 days a year and attracts 7 million visitors annually, but pandemic closures led to $140 million in lost revenues. The City of Paris had to borrow $60 million to pay for over-budget repair work, and will take more of the tower’s income. The tower’s operating company is raising prices 20% and reducing payroll, according to Le Monde: A report said poor management means tower workers are paid double their equivalents elsewhere. Flagship is trying to think of a more Parisian story than highly paid workers at the Eiffel Tower striking, presumably while mumbling angrily around a Gauloise.

Semafor’s 2024 World Economy Summit, on April 17-18, will feature conversations with global policymakers and power brokers in Washington, against the backdrop of the IMF and World Bank meetings.

Chaired by former U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein, and in partnership with BCG, the summit will feature 150 speakers across two days and three different stages, including the Gallup Great Hall. Join Semafor for conversations with the people shaping the global economy.

• WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeals against his extradition to the U.S., where he is facing 18 criminal charges, at London’s High Court.
• The Singapore Airshow, Asia’s largest, begins.
• London Fashion Week marks its finale.

The price for a month’s supply of Ozempic, a weight-loss drug, on Chinese retailer JD.com, a fraction of the almost $1,000 some users pay in the U.S. The gray market for the drug — Beijing has yet to approve Ozempic — highlights “a conundrum facing China’s government,” The Wall Street Journal reported: “How to tackle the world’s biggest obesity problem.” According to estimates based on official data, there are more than 200 million obese adults in China while an additional 400 million are overweight, with figures forecast to rise despite the country’s population dropping rapidly.

A Hong-Kong based artist is transforming the courtyard of London’s Somerset House into a bamboo garden. In his installation, opening this week, Zheng Bo invites visitors to “temporarily disconnect from their fast-paced, hyper-connected everyday lives” and draw the leaves they see on biodegradable paper that will in turn be used to fertilize the garden. The experience completes “a loop of creativity and ecology,” Somerset House said, with the artwork “asking what we can learn from nature when we slow down and take the time to reflect.”

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